Bungling wannabe car thief snared by his pants

A MAN accused of stealing a car from an Adelaide business crashed the vehicle in a garden bed, caught his pants in a barbed wire fence and then gave up the botched escape by locking himself inside the 4WD until police arrived.

Police say the bungled theft occurred at a business on Ryans Rd, in the northern suburb of Green Fields, when the car owner heard his Nissan start-up and rev loudly just before 6.30pm on Thursday.

The owner found a stranger in his car trying to reverse. The doors were locked and the offender then crashed the car into a small garden and hit a fence.

The quick-thinking owner locked the business gates and then called police. A friend of the victim used his car to block the 4WD.

The man will face court later today.

While officers were on their way the man climbed onto the roof of the 4WD and tried to scale a wire fence, but caught his pants on barbed wire.

When patrols arrived they found him locked inside the 4WD.

The 36-year-old man of no fixed address was charged with illegal use of a motor vehicle and property damage.

He has been refused bail and will appear in Elizabeth Magistrates Court on Friday.